- Leck's words immediately fog Katsa's mind. "Welcome. Friends. Honored place. Happy circle" (35.1), but she continues to have a nagging feeling that there's something she shouldn't trust about this man. She just can't figure out what it is. Or why she feels that way.
- Bitterblue, on the other hand, isn't fooled for an instant. She clings to Katsa, telling her that Leck is lying and begging her to come away. Katsa takes in the fact that Bitterblue doesn't seem to like the man either, but Katsa's mind is still unclear.
- Bitterblue screams when Po's mother, under Leck's instructions, attempts to take Bitterblue from Katsa. She even hits the queen, who, after declaring the girl hysterical, asks after her son. Po.
- "Indeed [Leck says]. "You're missing one of your party. I hope he's still alive?" (35.10).
- Katsa confirms his suspicions without thinking, but when Leck asks her to tell him where Po is, she finds the strength to resist, though she's still not sure why she shouldn't be telling this man anything.
- It's not until Leck presses Katsa about Po, and then threatens to reveal the truth of Po's Grace to the rest of his family—all of whom are in the room and have been convinced by Leck that Po's castle is actually his castle—that Katsa is finally struck by "a bolt of certainty" (35.46) and compelled to act.
- She hurls a dagger at Leck and hits him square in the mouth, pinning him to the back of his chair and killing him. Kind of an appropriate end for a man who spewed so many lies, right?
- The Lienid nobles start to seize Katsa, but they are stopped by Bitterblue, the only one in the room who managed to resist Leck's Grace completely.
- As their minds clear, they begin to fill in the truth of what has happened and realize they don't even remember when Leck arrived in Lienid or how long they've all been walking around doing his bidding like zombies.
- Once she is returned to herself, Katsa wants nothing more than to go find Po, and since Bitterblue is now the queen of Monsea, she can commission a ship for just such a journey.